by Coach Jason
January 18 2009 08:39
The boys faced Class Act from Pennsylvania at 9am. They came out strong and finished with a win 7-4. They looked to be gaining momentum from the previous win on Saturday and showed they really wanted to work together to advance into the playoffs.
Looking forward to finishing the last game in their pool the boys faced TC Santos from Illinois at 11am. They boys had trouble putting up enough points to get ahead and unfortunately made some costly mistakes that led to a narrow loss of 5-4. A silly goal awarded by the referee calling our player in the box while playing the ball out proved to be our downfall. It's very disappointing for referees to award subjective goals in close games when the goal is not earned.
As a result of the boys dropping their last pool game they dropped to a 3rd seed spot but advanced to the playoffs. They faced CeForca from Texas. CeForca quickly showed a different style of play that our boys had not faced. They dropped their defense and did not chase, simply waiting for a moment to capitalize with a counter attack. The game stayed within reach but eventually slipped away from us and we lost 9-6. CeForca proved to be great shooters from the outside and their style of play was something that we did not counter efficiently. The game was ironic given that we had beat the same team last year at the same point in the tournament and they were very disappointed. Especially since they were the tournament champions from the previous year. But today we were the ones that were disappointed as we were knocked out of the tournament. It was disappointing that we did not advance further in the tournament but the year long experience to get here will be something we will never forget. The teams in the tournament proved to be very strong and will only drive us to get better.
The boys surprised me with a trophy ball they had each signed with a message. It was a great gift and will always remind me of what a great group of boys we had this past year.
Thank you to all the parents for your dedication to this year long journey. I am truly thankful for the opportunity to work with these players and look forward to their development in the future.
